Semi final match 1 - Colin Kurin (Blue/Black Faerie Control) Vs Ben Chio ( Green/White Primal Control)The first game was literally a bitter battle with Ben getting the winning dice roll and starting first. The first spell played was the card feared most by control players: Bitterblossom. Played early, the enchantment would produce an endless supply of faerie rogues that would bite and chew and sting their opponents to death. Ben succumbed early, his spells and early acceleration of mana unable to keep up with the damaged dealt by Colins fae. A spellstutter sprite stopping the primal command and a mistbind clique to drain all the mana during upkeep, and the first attack was all over.

Round 1 - Colin 1 - Ben 0

After sideboards, Ben packed in his wispmare and nodes and Colin brought in the thoughtseizes and slaughter packs. Here Ben made a fatal error: he didn't board in his vexing shushers to slow the counterspell that threatened to shut his game as Colin took out many creature removal cards to make way for the thoughtseizes. again it happened, turn 2 bitterblossom (fast becoming the best card in standard(35USD$) overtaking tarmogoyf(50USD$) in popularity), 3rd turn rune snag, 4 turn spellstutter and 5 turn thoughtseize into mistbind, completely overpowering Bens defenses and taking out the key card in the matchup: Cloudthresher. One scion of oona later for 14 damage, and the game was over.

On the opposite side of the table, Hanafi was in a good form vs the other faeries deck. His deck packed mainboard mana tithes and sunlance, which at 1 mana would prove to be very devastating early game. Packed with the best 2 drops and 1 casting cost creatures Magic had to offer, Lim would be hard pressed to defend early game, as bitterblossom would be a liability in the matchup due to the life loss ability and his initial deck setup, which was made to win the mirror match game and to fight control decks. This was a nightmare from the get-go.

Both games, Hanafi came out blazing with first turn stalwart and second turn knight of meadowgrain and 3rd turn wizened cenn. In a matter of few turns his army of thoughtwefted kithkins ran amok and burned the faery to the ground. (anyone want more tastes of sunlance?) First game quickly went to Hanafi, especially since Lim went down to 5 cards due to a bad mulligan. Second game came in the sideboarded rebuff the wicked and it was another torture for lim who drew land after land after land... while Hanafi went for the quick kill.

Hanafi Light wins 2-0

Finals Colin (U/B faeries) Vs Hanafi ( Mono white KithKins)

Things were not looking good for Colin. Hanafi had already dominated his previous matchup with the other faerie deck and was looking good with a super fast aggro deck looking to win the championship. On the other hand, Colin was running Japanese tech straight from Pro Tour Hollywood. Trusting in the deck that Kenji Tsumura designed, he played only 12 faeries in his deck, and a full complement of removal to bring down aggresive strategies...

Round 1. Hanafi won the dice roll and elected to start first. Strangely he kept a slow hand without any first turn plays but promised a lot of action in the later turns. Playing his land untapped, he said go. Colin played his land and suspended an ancestral visions, which would play havoc if he ever lived to see his spell come out of suspended animation 4 turns later. First blood came to hanafi with a knight of meadowgrain and kinght of holy nimbus (which although wasnt technically a kithkin, was very dangerous in the matchup)Staring at 4 damage a turn and down to 16 life, he made a dangerous play that might win him the game:bitterblossom. The enchantment would make him lose 1 life a turn, but helped him produce a faerie rogue which could play early defence. Hanafi continued the barrage of assaults with more kithkins to his side and attacking him down to 8 life.

And then the visions resolved. Colin drew 3 extra cards during his turn and his smile appeared. After that, every creature Hanafi played was killed. A terror here and a nameless inversion there and soon Hanafi had no more creatures on the board. That was when Colin played Mistbind Clique to eat his bitterblossom at 4 life and began the counterattack. Hanafi was sitting at a healthy 28 life but was looking a bit restless to the growing army of faeries that Colin was building while he was himself drawing more lands from his library, a bad sign. The Mistbind went the entire distance, swinging for 4 damage a turn all the way and taking the first game 1-0.

Round 2. Hanafi took out a few slow cards and sideboarded in the Rebuffs, a key card to stop all the pin-point removal that Colin had. Colin however predicted that would happen and decided to board out most of his top heavy cards like cryptic commands and put in the ever dangerous damnation and the creature killer Razormane Masticore. The masticore was another insane japanese tech, which was perfect for the aggro field, as it had first strike (sorry doran) and could shoot for 3 damage a turn.

Losing the first game meant Hanafi went first this time. Playing a perfect start with an early stalwart and a knight of meadowgrain and complemented with the protection pieces of mana tithes, rebuffs and sunlances meant that Colin was in deep, deep waters this time around. Colin also kept his starting hand which featured an early bitterblossom and a grip of devastating removal cards. Hanafi kept the pressure on with mindgames by attacking with his 2 kithkins and leaving mana open to respond to anything his opponent might play. Then the war began: Colin's Mistbind Clique was counter with the white force spike, and his razormane masticore was killed with 2 sunlances. Colin was on the ropes and had to play his removals targetting the ever dangerous knight of meadowgrain. A series of furious exchange of instants ensued: a terror on the kithkin was countered with a rebuff but was then responded with spellstutter to nulify the spell. However, Colin was tapped out again: a simple mana tithe on the stutter killed the defence on the spot. Hanafi almost heaved a sigh of relief when from out of nowhere Colin played his ace: Slaughter Pact. The killer spell allowed him to kill any nonblack creature without paying any mana, but he had to pay 2B on his next upkeep or lose the game. The knight was finally dealt with; the tide was changing.

And then the unthinkable happened: Hanafi was missing his land drops. He was playing on 2 lands the entire game while Colin was slowly building his position. His oblivion ring stayed quietly in his hand without the mana to cast. Colin quietly replayed another Razormane Masticore which began shooting away all the other kithkins from the battlefield. With the lands still not showing up for Hanafi, all he could do was watch with dismay as Colin's Masticore dominated the board and winning the game at 7 life.